Vehicle-door.



W. B. C. HERSHEY.

VEHICLE DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED 020.1, 1912.

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ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM B. C. HERSHEY, OF COLUIVLBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO 'IHE EXCELSIOR SEAT COMPANY, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

VEHICLE-DOOR.

Application filed December 7, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM B. C. HERSHEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vehicle- Doors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to vehicle doors and pertains more particularly to that type of door used in connection with storm vehicles and doctors buggies of all types, wherein there is used a slidable door. Experience has demonstrated that all working parts of vehicles of this type will warp or become more or less out of shape owing to their subjection to all kinds of weather conditions. One of the parts most readily affected is the sliding door itself and when this takes place, the door will either bind in either its open or closed position, or its distortion is in the opposite direction and it will rattle.

My invention, "therefore, aims to overcome this by the provision of a yielding trackway, serving as a guide member for one portion of the vehicle door.

More desirably, my invention takes the form of a trackway resiliently mounted in a manner to constantly exert its pressure to maintain the door in constant and firm engagement with its guiding trackways. In the utilization of this type of trackway, I also attain the feature of self adjustment of a rigid trackway to compensate for practically all distortions of the doors and this is particularly true where the doors are each fitted with two engaging members for each trackway.

The preferred embodiment of my invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partially in section, of a vehicle body with my improvements applied thereto and showing the door removed, Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional View of the structure shown in Fig. 1 and showing the slidable door in its proper position, Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail of the con struction of the lower trackway used by me, and, Fig. 4 is a detail view of a slight modification of a peculiar form of upper trackway that may be utilized.

In the drawings, the vehicle body in its Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 13, 1914.

Serial No. 735,387.

entirety is designated 1 and is shown as being provided with an upper trackway 2 having an anticlinal engaging surface and as mounted upon the roof structure 3 of the vehicle body in any desired manner. The slidable door 4 is provided with a plurality of grooved rollers 5 for cooperation with the anticlinal formation of the trackway and rigidly carried by the door by upwardly extending supporting bars 6.

A longitudinally extending bar 7 forms a complemental trackway and is mounted upon hangers, preferably in the form of bolts 8 adjustably carried by the lower portion of the vehicle body by nuts 9 and 10. These bolts, preferably two in number, extend outwardly through slots 11 in the lower trackway to which they are adjustably secured by nuts 12. From the description thus far given, it will be apparent that this lower trackway is mounted to float, but it is desirably held in its position by the action of a leaf spring 13 normally exerting a down ward pressure. Embracing members 14 are carried by the lower portion of the slidable door in a manner to coact with the trackway 7. It will be apparent, that should the two trackways not be accurately spaced apart, or should the door warp or become otherwise distorted, the lower floating trackway will at all times be responsive to compensate for these abnormal conditions. In other words, it is possible to move the lower trackway as a whole, either slightly up or down, or only one end of it may be caused to assume either of these positions and in this manner the upper guide rollers will be firmly held against the upper trackway, thereby preventing bothersome rattle or binding of the door in either its open or closed position. A supplemental guide member 15 is also provided to slidably embrace the side boards 16 of the bed of the vehicle. These supplemental guide members are intended primarily to be eflective when the doors are in their closed position. It will be apparent that these members serve to assist in preventing dislodgment of the doors, although their use is not absolutely necessary to the embodiment of the present invention. I

\Vhat I claim, is

In combination with a vehicle body, a slidable door comprising a body portion a rigid trackway at the top portion of said vehicle body, rollers for suspending said door from l member carried by the lower portion of said said traokway, a oomplemental slotted trackdoor for cooperation with the underside of Way carried by the side of said vehicle body said last trackway whereby the door is held and extending between its rear edge and the in its operative position. 15 door opening, hangers passing through said In testimony whereof I aflix my signature slotted trackway forming its means of supin presence of two Witnesses.

port on the vehicle body means carried by I, j k said hangers for horizontally adjusting said WILLIAM HEhSHEY' :ward pressure on said trackway, and aguide last trackway away from the vehicle body, l/Vitnesses: resilient means normally exerting a down- WALTER E. L. Boon,

A. L. PHELPS.

Copies of this'patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washingtomll. C. 

